Late game surge

Thursday

Dec 20, 2012 at 10:34 PMDec 20, 2012 at 10:38 PM

Harris fuels Falcons' comeback

Tom Mielcarek

Constantine's boys only led for 18 seconds in their game against Kalamazoo Hackett Catholic Central, but it was the final ticks as the Falcons rallied past the Irish, 60-57, in KVA action at home Thursday.

"That's the best time to be leading in the game, right at the end," Constantine coach Kevin Sullivan said. "I'm proud of the guys for the little two-game win streak and something to enjoy the holidays with, but we have a lot of work ahead of us."

Senior Michael Harris put the Falcons up 58-57 on a drive to the basket and was fouled. He missed the try for the three-point play, but did hit two free throws moments later for breathing room with 5.8 seconds remaining.

In-between, Hackett had a chance to take the lead, but an errant pass doomed ended the attempt.

"I'm proud of our effort down the stretch," Sullivan said. "We struggled early, never got in a rhythm and I credit Todd (Meert, Hackett coach) and his boys. We had to work the whole night."

Harris scored all 13 of his points in the final 4:02. Payton White, who had a game-high 24 points, added five points during the 18-7 run to close the game.

"The guys never gave up, that's the one thing I did see, but there was a lack of some intensity in moments out there was the frustrating part," Sullivan said. "But you find a way to win and they did that tonight."

Some of the lack of intensity was early as Hackett (1-4, 1-3 KVA) jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead and a Constantine (2-2, 2-3) timeout.

The Falcons followed with a 3-pointer from White and basket inside from the senior off a feed from Harris. White added an offensive putback with three seconds left to tie the game at 11-11 after one quarter.

The Irish regained control of the contest jumping out to a 22-13 edge with 1:24 to go before the break on a layup from Evan Wenzel. They held a 24-18 advantage heading into the locker room.

Constantine tied the game early in the third stanza on a pair of baskets by White and a reverse layup by Justin Bontrager. It led to a Irish timeout.

Hackett's Ted Rider responded with 10 straight points, including a pair of triples. A layup by Andre' Bailey closed the 12-0 two-minute run giving the Irish a 36-24 lead midway through the third quarter.

Constantine rallied to cut the deficit in half, 40-34, after three quarters.

The Falcons were unable to dent the lead in the first four minutes of the fourth quarter and trailed 50-42 with just over four minutes remaining.

Constantine used their advantage at the free throw to get the win going 12-for-16 (75 percent), while Hackett was 8-for-17 (47 percent).

"That's one of our goals, we always want to shoot 70 percent (from the foul line)in a game," Sullivan said. "And we like to shoot 50 percent from the floor and we did, we were 58 percent from the floor. So, we accomplished our goals and I told them if we do that, we'll get a 'W' out of the thing."

Bontrager finished with 15 points for the Falcons, while Jeff Heign tossed in eight.

White led Constantine on the glass with 10 rebounds and also had three steals. Heign and Bontrager each collected five boards. Harris handed out five assists, Bontrager added four and Perry White had three.

Girl's game

In the girl's game, Hackett won 62-43.

The Lady Irish took a 17-12 lead early, ending the first quarter. They added 17 more in the second quarter and led 34-23 at the break.

Constantine made a push in the third quarter, out-scoring Hackett 15-12. However, they still trailed 46-38 heading into the final eight minutes.